Madelyn (00:00)
Hello, welcome to The Unscripted Files. My name is Madelyn Cunningham. I'm here with Emily Wilson for our Monday mini-sode giving you all the latest Unscripted Industry news. Welcome, Emily.

Emily Wilson (00:09)
Thank for having me.

Madelyn (00:10)
absolutely. A little scarce on the news. We were just trying to cobble up a couple different headlines, but we can tie up some loose ends based on the last time we spoke. Looks like the world of board games continues to expand. We've talked Monopoly. We've talked Clue. What's next?

Emily Wilson (00:27)
Yes, so we have Catan coming to life on Netflix, hopefully for unscripted and scripted series. So definitely an interesting one. I've personally never heard of this game, so I'm excited to see what they do with it.

Madelyn (00:39)
I think it has a pretty loyal following, and I think it's really, really popular. Looks like it'll be the first ever screen adaptations of the global phenomenon in which settlers navigate vast landscapes, forge shifting alliances, and compete for scarce resources as robbers roam the island. Is it Catan or is it Traitors?

what else is going on?

Emily Wilson (00:59)
I think having a format like that on Netflix when it's a global game which is loved around the world and global formats, think Netflix are trying to find the most international IP that they can get. But a lot has been happening as far as an update at Warner Brothers Discovery which looks to be officially up for sale now.

Madelyn (01:18)
Yes, what was industry buzz and hearsay is now official and a lot of talk about, you know, who's going to be the buyer and what strategies are going to work for each one. Paramount's in the conversation. Comcast is in the conversation. Netflix and Amazon are in the conversation. So it'll be really interesting to see.

how this pans out, if and how the portfolio of their cable and studio

commodities get split up as the industry continues to consolidate.

Emily Wilson (01:52)
And I guess on the topic of mergers as well, we have Walt Disney Company which acquired a majority stake in FuboTV and combined that with Fubo Plus 5 TV, so a lot of sports now, so that combines others.

Madelyn (02:09)
it looks like Disney is going to own a 70 % stake in this new company. This newly combined Fubo and Hulu Plus Live TV will create the second largest virtual paid TV provider in the US with nearly six million subscribers. Pretty wild and only second to Google's YouTube TV, estimated to have about 10 million subscribers. So, you another...

big acquisition for the Disney, ABC, ESPN family that just keeps growing.

Emily Wilson (02:41)
Yeah, and not surprising with the popularity of sports and sport related formats. think the streamers are seeing the joys of live TV that they are missing out on and are seeing Netflix have more live content. So not surprising that Disney has made this move.

Madelyn (02:58)
Not at all. a lot of layoffs this week with a few different companies. know, super unfortunate news, so many talented people in the industry who are being let go due to these mergers and consolidation. Can you share a little more about what companies exactly have been affected?

Emily Wilson (03:16)
Yeah, so really unfortunate news as always, and I think we see it a lot when it comes to mergers and acquisitions, but Paramount Skydance is seeing about 2,000 layoffs.

Madelyn (03:26)
Yeah, it's looking like it affected a lot of their unscripted and alternative divisions, a lot of the creative sector, the CBS News as well. think MGM, part of Amazon Studio, also had some major layoffs. know, sad to see that this week. Wishing the best to all of our industry friends.

Madelyn (03:45)
And in other news of continuing to acquire podcast content, we touched on this with Netflix a week or so ago, Tubi has made his first podcast play. a multi-year deal with AudioChuck, which was founded by Ashley Flowers. For Crime Junkie, which is consistently and for years has been the number one true crime podcast on all of the podcast platforms. you know, interesting to see how these

media companies continue to to nab podcast and how successful they continue to be, especially the true crime space, which we see consistently charting, you know, on our TVs and in our ears.

Emily Wilson (04:20)
announced

their first turn of profit this week. So it's not surprising that they are trying to diversify their income streams as well. You're seeing it all over the world with Netflix, as you mentioned. Channel 4 announced two new podcasts last week as well. So definitely more visualized podcasts coming to streaming and coming to different networks. And it's unsurprising that...

is popular and could also convert in scripted IP down the line.

Madelyn (04:47)
Absolutely. Yes, I've been watching the Murdoch scripted show on Hulu, originated as a podcast. And in fact, that podcast journalist is an executive producer on the show and is being played by Brittany Snow. So you're right. There's so many sort of opportunities with those storylines to double down and create more entertainment. So thank you so much for joining me, Emily, and I'll see you in a few weeks. Yeah.

Emily Wilson (05:11)
Yeah, for

having me

Madelyn (05:13)
Thanks